Empire
Empire (帝国 Teikoku) is an Empire, without an official name, in Special Region ruled by Molt Sol Augustus, where it runs in a hegemonic system as it controls most of the continent of Falmart, ranging from the northern mountain ranges south along the coast of the Blue Sea. The Imperial Capital, Sadera, is located northwest of Alnus and to the north of the Blue Sea coast. Politics The Empire is comparable to the real-world Roman Empire, in that the Emperor has final authority on most matters of state. However, substantial power is also in the hands of the Imperial Senate. Many lesser kings and nobles swear loyalty to the Empire and provide troops during times of war, while controlling most of the local affairs in their territories. Imperial vassal states include the Kingdom of Elbe, the Principality of League, Kingdom of Mudwan, and the city of Italica. While the emperor ostensibly has absolute power, like in Rome, senators, military commanders, and other high-ranking officials carry substantial power; more than enough to depose an emperor if they oppose him. Molt Sol Augustus has many such enemies, as seen in Episode 2 when the Emperor orders his rivals to attack the Japan Self-Defense Forces encamped at the Alnus, knowing full well they would be slaughtered by the superior firepower of the JSDF. He later orders the surrounding regions to be burnt down by applying Scorched Earth tactics, officially to deny the JSDF from obtaining local resources but it is actually carried out for the insidious motive of further quelling any rebellion against the Empire. History Based on the Imperial Calendar, which likely marks the founding of the Empire as "Year 0", the Empire was presumably founded 687 years before the invasion of the JSDF, or in the early 1300s based on Earth's calendar. While few events in the history are known, it is known that, about 250 years prior to the JSDF arrival, or around 487 Imperial Calendar (mid-1700s), a major war called the Arctic War took place, which is generally considered to be one of the most turbulent and difficult times in Imperial history. In 680, a major rebellion occurred in the Empire. While little is known about the precise details of the rebellion, it can be surmised that it was crushed with brutal force. The crushing defeat in the Japanese-Empire War, which started in 687, or the early 21st century on Earth, led to the decline of Imperial power in the Special Region. Military The Imperial Army is similar in appearance and structure of the real-world Roman Army, being made up primarily of formations of infantry armed with spears, swords, and large rectangular shields. Also present in the military are cavalries, archers, siege engines such as battering rams, ballistae, and trebuchets, and dragon riders. Auxiliary forces are provided by both human and goblin vassal states of the Empire. While the Empire is very Roman-like, their technology level is actually more late-medieval. For instance the Imperial cavalry, who are typically similar in appearance to medieval knights, clad in plate armor and armed with swords and lances. Other medieval weaponry used by the Empire include crossbows, halberds, and trebuchets. The Empire had not invented gunpowder and therefore had never seen firearms or explosives prior to first contact with the JSDF. Magic exists in the Special Region, primarily in the form of manipulating other objects and forces, such as creating explosions, fire, or electrical discharges. However, it is not very powerful, mainly due to the lack of understanding of the forces they are attempting to manipulate. For instance, the Empire has no understanding of the chemistry behind combustion, and after Lelei La Lalena learns of this information from the Japanese, her fire magic becomes exponentially more powerful, finally becoming a viable weapon. Lacking such knowledge, the Imperial army does not typically employ sorcerers in battle, though they will employ magical creatures, primarily dragons to be used as mounts. On the rare occasion where magic is used on the battlefield, it is generally used for support purposes, as seen by Myuute Luna Sires use of wind magic to blow arrows off course. Much like the Roman army, the largest division of troops is referred to as a legion. Other divisions of the army are not known and it is not clear how the size of an Imperial legion is comparable to that of a Roman legion (5000-10000 troops depending on auxillaries). It is also not clear whether auxiliaries and orders of knights are integrated into the legions or they exist separately. Everything that has happened thus far has taken place on land, so there has been no contact with anything that resembles an Imperial Navy. Still, a map of the Special Region depicts a Greco-Roman-style warship or trireme, a mixed oar and sail powered vessel armed with a forward naval ram. This suggests the Empire or their vassal states possess some form of naval forces. Economy The Empire is the dominant power on the continent of Falmart, and presumably possessing the largest economy with the capability to field a full-time professional army, as well as complete massive construction projects such as many of the grand buildings and statues in Sadera. In spite of this, the Empire's economy is limited by its pre-industrial technology level, which places severe limits on the amount of resources which can be exploited by the Empire, as well as the annual gross domestic product of the Empire. For this reason, the Empire's annual gross domestic product pales in comparison to that of a modern industrialized country such as Japan. While the annual GDP and government budget of the Empire is not known, it is known that the initial Japanese reparation demand of 500 million Suwani, which is about the same amount as the Japanese government's annual budget, was considered to be an outrageous sum where one member of the Senate's pro-peace faction mentioned that "all the money in the world would fall short of that amount." One particular element that should also be noted of the Empire's economy is one of its characteristics shared with ancient Rome: [[Slavery in the Special Region|'Slavery']]. It is not known whether the mechanics of slavery in the Empire are similar or not to those of ancient Rome but is known that in the Empire exists a market completely dedicated to the trade of slaves and that the slaves are used for forced labor and sexual exploitation in inhumane and life-threatening conditions. The enslavement of the war prisoners seems to be a widely accepted and deeply rooted custom of the imperial culture. The enslavement of war prisoners is considered by the imperial citizens, or at least by the imperial royalty, to be a part of the natural order of things: the victor decides the fate of the loser (a concept considered to be utterly abominable by a modern culture like that of Japan). Education The education in the Empire, at least compared to First World countries, is apparently very poor as commoners lack access to basic education where it is noted that Imperial Soldiers are incapable of doing mental calculations, thus they would be easily cheated by unscrupulous merchants during the currency exchange; the JSDF soldiers would often surprise merchants, who usually require a tool to calculate even basic math. While literacy rates are unknown, it is likely that they are very low, with literacy restricted mostly to members of the upper classes, who would have access to education, as well as to some professions which would require literacy. It's shown that some common people in the Empire seem to be literate, even servants such as Delilah. This suggests that literacy rate may be similar to those in the real-world Roman Empire- relatively high in comparison to other ancient cultures and the subsequent Middle Ages, but still considerable lower than the standards of modern developed countries. Category:Terminology